


Paper Fortunes

by SilvorMoon



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Fortune Telling, M/M, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-02
Updated: 2017-02-02
Packaged: 2018-09-21 11:59:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9548141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilvorMoon/pseuds/SilvorMoon
Summary: Yuuri's life has been one surprise after another. No one could have predicted how it would turn out, and even if they had, he surely wouldn't have believed it.





	

Katsuki Yuuri wandered through the playground. It was all very well, he thought, for his sister to tell him “go play with your friends”, but where were these friends supposed to be? It wasn’t as though he had a lot of them, and what made her think they would be here? Still, he had to do something until it was time to go home again, so he wandered slowly through the park, sizing up his options. A few of the bigger boys had started up a soccer game, but they wouldn’t let him play with them. The only sport he was good at was ice skating - when it came to soccer, he had a habit of getting flustered and forgetting which side of the field his goal was on. The swings had been taken over by a quartet of giggling girls. A toddler was throwing a tantrum in the sandbox. Several boys even smaller than Yuuri had taken over the sliding board and declared it to be their personal rocket ship. He didn’t think they would want him to play with them. 

“This stinks,” he muttered, kicking a pebble up the path. 

The soccer ball got away from one of the players and went speeding towards him. Yuuri managed to get out of the way, but didn’t quite manage to avoid the boys who came after it. 

“Outta the way, slowpoke!” one of them shouted, as he shoved Yuuri out of the way. 

Yuuri stumbled and fell, and his glasses flew off his nose. Fortunately, he landed on the grass, so he wasn’t really hurt, but it did knock the wind out of him for a moment. He scrabbled for his glasses and carefully began setting himself aright. 

“Why don’t you look where you’re going?” he mumbled, but quietly, so they couldn’t hear him. 

As he was dusting himself off, a voice called out, “Katsuki-kun! Is that you?” 

Yuuri looked around for the source of the voice. It was coming from a little girl sitting on a park bench, and after a second or two he recognized her as Nakano Hitomi, one of his classmates from school. Yuuri cautiously began to relax. At least here was someone he knew, and who was, if not a close friend, at least someone who didn’t go out of her way to pick on him. 

“Hi,” he said, ambling over to the bench. “What are you doing?” 

“Making fortune-tellers,” she said. 

Sure enough, on one side of the bench, she had stacked a pile of brightly colored origami paper, and on the other side were the little four-cornered folded-paper toys that children used to predict their futures. 

“Cool,” he said. “Can I tell my fortune?” 

“Sure,” she said. “I’ll make a special one just for you. Just wait one second. You can play with the others while I work. See, this one tells you where you’ll live, and this one tells you what job you’ll have, and this one says how many kids you’ll have..” 

So while she scribbled and folded, Yuuri picked up the other fortune tellers and played with them, reporting his findings. 

“Okay, this one says, umm... that I’m going to live in an apartment. That’s not so bad,” he said. He grabbed the next one. “And this one says... oh, hey, I’m going to be a figure skater! Cool!” Not that he was actually surprised - skating was one of the few interesting things to do in this town, so of course it would be included as an option - but it made him happy all the same. There was nothing he wanted more than to someday be a great skater, just like his hero Victor. He was actually smiling when Hitomi finished her creation. 

“There,” she said, smiling brightly. “All done. This is the most important one. It’ll tell you who you’re going to marry.” 

Yuuri was not entirely sure about this, but he accepted the toy anyway. He would look like a bad sport if he said no. It probably just had the names of other girls in his class, and Hitomi would squeal and tease him about it and they’d both have a laugh and forget about it. It would be embarrassing, but he could deal with it. He picked his number and unfolded the corresponding corner. He stared. 

“Victor Nikiforov?” he blurted. 

Hitomi began to giggle. “Katsuki-kun likes Victor!” she sang. 

Yuuri felt his face going red. “What... I don’t... why did...?” 

Hitomi plucked the fortune-teller from his nerveless fingers and unfolded it, revealing that _all_ the options were “Victor Nikiforov.” 

“You might as well admit it,” she said. “We all know you have a crush on him. You want to kiss him, don’t you?” 

Yuuri thought he might explode from shame and pent-up fury. Hot tears began burning in his eyes and rolling down his cheeks. 

“Well... I’ll bet he’d rather marry me than some mean girl like you!” Yuuri shouted. 

He snatched the fortune-teller out of her hands, threw it on the ground, and stomped on it. Then he snatched it up again, fully intending to throw it in his tormentor’s face. The look on her face stopped him. Her cheeks had gone white, and she was staring at him with wide, frightened eyes. Well, why shouldn’t she? He was Katsuki Yuuri the pushover, and she hadn’t thought he was going to turn on her. The look on her face made the idea of hurting her lose its savor, so he simply jammed the crumpled paper into his pocket and stormed off. 

“It was just a joke!” she shouted after him. “Can’t you take a joke?” 

“It’s not funny!” he shouted back over his shoulder. 

_And I’m right,_ he told himself. _Victor really would like me better than her. He really would!_

* * *

“...so it’s going to be hard to choose,” Hitomi was telling her friend. “I mean, the job is a great fit for me and the pay is good, but I don’t really want to move again.” 

“Tough call,” he companion agreed. “I mean, if you moved to a smaller town, it would be harder to pick up guys, right?” 

Hitomi and her friend Mika were sitting outside a café, sipping lattes, nibbling cakes, and catching up on life. All around them, the city bustled with shoppers and sightseers. It was a good day to be out, sunny with just a hint of coolness in the air, and the two of them were making the most of it. Hitomi enjoyed people-watching, and this little café was one of the best places in the city to do it. Even as she caught up with her friend, her gaze roved up and down the street, taking in the view. 

_It really would be a shame to have to move, no matter how good the money is,_ she mused, as she tracked a particularly good-looking young man. _You probably can’t get a view like this in a small town. I was so glad to get out of Hasetsu. There was absolutely no way to meet people there._

That thought sparked something in the back of her head. Hasetsu... there was something about this man that reminded her of her old hometown. She frowned a little, trying to work it out. Something about the way he held himself, the way he turned his head, the way he moved his hands was so familiar... 

“Hey, that’s Katsuki Yuuri!” she blurted. 

Mika blinked at her. “Who?” 

“Katsuki Yuuri,” Hitomi repeated. “A guy I used to go to school with, way back in the day.” 

“A friend?” said Mika. 

“Not exactly,” Hitomi admitted. “I mean, he was a nice kid, but we didn’t exactly get along. I played a pretty mean prank on him once, and I don’t think he ever really forgave me.” 

“Well, now’s your chance to apologize to him,” said Mika, generous-hearted soul that she was. “Go on, you’ll feel better.” 

Hitomi considered. On the one hand, it seemed silly to dredge up such a long-ago incident. He had probably forgotten all about it by now. On the other hand, it might be nice to clear the air between them, maybe even strike up a friendship. Mika was probably right - she _would_ feel better about herself if she apologized. 

“All right,” she said. “I’ll do it.” 

She stood up and crossed the street to where Yuuri was peering in a shop window. Looking at him close up gave her a faint sense of unreality. The Katsuki Yuuri she remembered had been a shy, awkward boy, inclined to be chubby and lacking in self-confidence. Could this lean, intense-eyed young man really be the boy she knew from back then? If so, he’d done a lot of growing up in the years since she’d last seen him. 

“Excuse me,” she said, “but aren’t you Katsuski Yuuri?” 

“Ah... yes,” he said, and the self-effacing grin he gave her confirmed it. 

“You probably don’t remember me,” said Hitomi, encouraged. “I’m Nakano Hitomi - we went to school together.” 

His expression cleared. “Oh, right! Wow, it’s been a really long time, hasn’t it?” 

“It really has,” she agreed. “I almost didn’t recognize you, it’s been so long.” 

“I don’t blame you,” he admitted. “A lot has changed since we were little kids together.” He laughed. “I never could have guessed how it would all end up, and if you’d told me, I wouldn’t have believed you.” 

Hitomi seized on her opening. “I tried it once. Do you remember? You were so mad about it.” 

“Huh?” said Yuuri. “Oh, yeah! I do remember that. Funny, I hadn’t thought about that in ages.” 

“I’m glad for that,” she said. “It was a pretty mean trick. I’m sorry about that.” 

Yuuri smiled. He really did have a nice smile, she thought. It was a shame she hadn’t seen him smile more often when they’d known each other. If he hadn’t been wearing an obvious ring on his left hand, she might have even considered suggesting a date. As it was, she could only think that whoever had put that ring there had good taste. 

“Don’t worry about it,” he said. “It didn’t bother me that much, really. You know, I kept the paper afterwards. I really wanted to believe I’d meet Victor someday. I might still have it in the back of a drawer somewhere.” 

“Well I’m glad there’s no hard feelings,” she said. “I feel bad about it now. I’m sorry I messed with you that way.” 

“It’s fine, it’s fine,” he said holding up his hands in a placating gesture. “Water under the bridge. No point in beating yourself up about it.” 

“Thanks,” she said. “So, what have you been doing with yourself all this time? Do you live around here?” 

“Actually, no, I’m just here for a visit,” he replied. “Right now I’m living in an apartment in St. Petersburg.” 

“Really? In Russia?” she asked, surprised. “What are you doing there?” 

“Training,” he answered succinctly. He looked slightly surprised. “Didn’t you know? I’m a professional skater now.” 

“Wow, really? I’m impressed!” she replied. “You always were really into skating.” 

He grinned that self-conscious grin again. “I’ve gotten pretty good, I think, but I know there’s still room for improvement.” 

Hitomi was thoughtful. “So you live in an apartment and you’re a pro skater now, just like the fortune tellers predicted.” She laughed. “Now all we need is Victor Nikiforov to show up.” 

To her relief, Yuuri laughed too. “Oh, he’s bound to be around here somewhere. Want me to try to find him for you?” 

Hitomi smiled. It was nice to know that he had forgiven her enough that he could make jokes on the subject. 

Then a voice in the crowd caroled out, “Yuuri, where’d you go?” Yuuri’s expression brightened instantly. 

“Oh, there he is!” he said. He waved an arm in the air. “Hey, over here!” 

A moment later, the two of them were joined by an astonishingly good-looking fair-haired man. He draped his arms around Yuuri and leaned on him, buffeting him with an armload of shopping bags in the process. Yuuri took the treatment tolerantly. 

“Hey, come on, knock it off,” he said, smiling affectionately. 

“Yuuri,” the newcomer cooed. “I found a place that sells crepes! Can we get some, please?” 

“You just ate!” Yuuri protested, laughing. 

“This is dessert! It doesn’t count!” 

“Well, first say hello to my friend. It’s only polite,” Yuuri replied. “Victor, this is Nakano Hitomi, an old schoolmate. Hitomi-chan, this is my fiancé, Victor Nikiforov.” 

Hitomi stared. This had to be a joke. Surely there was no way they could _actually_... But come to think of it, this blue-eyed man did look an awful lot like the pictures she could remember seeing pasted to the inside of Yuuri’s notebooks back in the day. In a town where skating was one of the few available diversions, it was hard not to get a look at Victor Nikiforov once in a while. 

Victor leaned even closer to Yuuri, until they were cheek to cheek. “Another old girlfriend? Are you trying to make me jealous?” 

“No, no, it’s not like that!” Yuuri replied, laughing. “She’s just a friend from school, that’s all.” 

“Then prove you love me by buying me a crepe!” 

Yuuri gave Hitomi a what-can-you-do? grin that was half embarrassment and half pride. “It’s not my fault,” he seemed to be saying, “that this guy is head over heels for me.” 

“It looks like I’d better go,” he said to Hitomi. “It was nice running into you. Hey, look me up on Facebook - you can see some of my skating videos.” 

Hitomi agreed that she would and said her goodbyes. She was so flustered that Yuuri and Victor had already rounded a corner and disappeared before she realized that she’d just met a celebrity - two celebrities, apparently - and had forgotten to ask for autographs. She walked back to her table in a thoughtful mood. 

“So, did you get it all sorted out?” Mika asked. 

“Yeah,” said Hitomi. She fished around in her purse and managed to come up with a stray scrap of paper that she’d been taking notes on earlier in the week. Now she began scribbling on the clean backside of it, marking out options: _Stay where I am, take the job offer, look for a different job..._

“What are you doing?” Mika asked. 

“Making a fortune teller,” Hitomi replied. “You know, like the ones we used to play with when we were kids.” 

Mika leaned forward for a better look as Hitomi began folding the paper. 

“Do you really think those things work?” she asked. 

Hitomi stared off in the direction Yuuri had gone. 

“Apparently,” she said.


End file.
